Lucy's New Partner
by Disappear500
Summary: Plot: Lucy takes a solo mission and returns 3 months later with a kid! Not only that but he's a mage! Why does this kid hate Natsu and Gray so much? How will Team Natsu react when Lucy agrees to form a team with him? Why are Natsu and Gray acting so strange?
1. The Mage's Return

This story is dedicated to KurikoKuroHime for helping me get out of my writers block to actually _start_ this story without it being a _complete_ failure. I don't know how good this is but…I hope you guys like it. Though compared to most of the fan-fics out there it probably sucks. Well at least the ones I read.

Yosh! Here it is! The first chapter of my first fan-fic!

* * *

Chapter 1: The Mages Return

"Mira!" Erza yelled as she stormed up to the white-haired mage.

"What is it Erza?" Mirajane asked.

"When _exactly_ was Lucy supposed to return?" The scarlet-haired mage asked for the 3rd time this week.

"I told you the mission should take her 1 1/2-2 months."

"So _why_ hasn't my teammate returned?" Erza growled. "Tomorrow it will have been 3 months!"

"I don't know Erza," Mirajane replied calmly, "but Lucy's probably fine. Have some faith in her, eh?" She placed a hand on the scarlet-haired mages armored shoulder. Erza sighed. "Tomorrow if she still isn't back, we'll go look for her okay?" Erza nodded grimly.

"I'm sorry Mira," Erza sighed. "It's just-" Suddenly, the guild doors burst open revealing Natsu and Happy. They looked around excitedly before sighing dejectedly and making their way over to the bar and sulking. "_That_." Erza said pointing at them.

"I know what you mean," the white-haired Mage said nodding her head, "but there's also **_that_**." She added pointing to where Gray was sitting fully clothed, staring into space.

"Mirajane~," Natsu whined, "isn't Lucy back yet. I wanna go on a mission~."

"No Natsu," Mira sighed, "and why can't you and Happy go by yourselves?" Mirajane suddenly got an idea and jumped from the joy of it. "Could it be you like Lucy?"

Natsu gave her a confused look. "Of course I like her." Mirajane's face lit up, while Erza's eyes bugged out. "She's my partner after all, not to mention an important nakama." *Mirajane and Erza sweatdrop*

"Yeah, what was I thinking?" Mirajane said.

"Well, I know that might not be what you were expecting, but I believe I can answer your first question though Mira. I told Gray and Natsu that we won't go on any missions until Lucy returns so that we can all go together," Erza said. "However, as we agreed earlier, if she is not back tomorrow we are going to look for her. **DO YOU HEAR ME! NATSU! GRAY!**"

Suddenly Gray and Natsu snapped to attention and appeared at Erza's side.

"Aye!" Natsu shouted.

"Y-y-yes Erza!" Gray stammered. "What do you want?"

"If Lucy has not returned by tomorrow we are going to look for her," Erza said.

"Aw, come on Erza," Natsu said. "Lucy's strong. She's fine."

"Yeah, she's probably site-seeing or something on her way back," Gray added.

"I said we are going to look for her," Erza's eyes narrowed. "Do you have a problem with that?" she practically growled at the two boys.

"N-no Ma'am!" they shouted in unison.

"Good," Erza said turning back to Mirajane. "Mira, may I have some strawberry cake?" The two boys took this as their cue to leave.

* * *

The next day, around noon, Erza _completely_ lost her patience.

"It's been 3 month's now Mira," Erza said. "She's still not back."

"Erza," Mirajane started calmly, "the day just started, she could still show up. Just give it some time."

"'Give it some time?'" Erza quoted in outrage while standing up to glare in the eyes of the white-haired mage. "It's been **3 month's**! She was supposed to return in 2! I've waited **3 WHOLE MONTH'S** for her return! I believe I've given it _more than enough_ **time**!"

"O-oi!" Gray stammered. "Erza, I know you're worried, but I think Mirajane's right. Just calm down."

"I'm sorry," Erza's voice was cold as she slowly turned her head to look at Gray, her glare still as terrifying as ever, "did you say something?" Gray froze in terror. *Mirajane sweatdrop*

"Come now, Erza," she said regaining Erza's attention much to Gray's relief, "I'm just telling you to wait a few hours before you decide she's not going to show up today and leave. What would you do if she shows up later and you had already taken off after her?"

"Well, I suppose you have a point," Erza said beginning to relax. "I will wait for a little longer."

"SO BORED," Natsu moaned from his spot on the bar. "Lucy, come back already." Just then Natsu jumped up smelling the air. He grinned and looked towards guild doors. After a few moments, Lucy walked into the guild. "LUCY!" Natsu ran and tackled the blond.

"Kyaa!" she screeched as they fell over, nearly crushing a little boy that was standing behind her. "Natsu!" Lucy cried. That's when she realizes Natsu's face is buried in her chest. *Lucy's eyes bug out* "What the hell are you doing?!" She screams. Natsu lifts his face and smiles at her.

"I missed you," he says. Lucy smiles at him.

"I missed you too," Lucy says calmly. "Now get off." She added darkly while glaring at him. Afraid of the consequences, Natsu jumps off her.

"Sorry," he says helping her up.

"Luuuuucy!" Happy cries flying into her chest trying to hug her.

"Happy!" Lucy exclaims wrapping her arms around the blue cat.

"You don't get mad when _Happy_ does it," Natsu mumbled.

"Aye!" Happy says from his position in Lucy's arms. "'Cuz I'm a cat!"

"Lucy!" Erza's commanding voice suddenly rang out around the guild which went silent as everyone watched the scene before them. Lucy stiffened as the armored mage made her way over to her followed closely by Gray. Happy flew out of her arms and hid behind Natsu.

"Y-yes Erza?" Lucy said with a slight stutter. Gray notices the boy and stares at him. Said boy was currently glued to Lucy's leg but no one else seemed to notice. Erza walked up to Lucy and stared coldly into her eyes causing the blond girl to shiver in fear. Erza clasped both of her hands on Lucy's shoulders before suddenly pulling her into a tight, and very painful due to her armor, hug.

"You had me worried," Erza said into her friend's hair. "What took you so long?"

"Um," Gray interrupted earning him a glare from Erza as she released Lucy that he didn't notice as he stared at the kid, "it's not like I don't wanna know where you where Lucy but…"-he points at the boy still clinging to her leg-"who's that?"

Erza followed Gray's finger noticing the boy for the first time. The boy shuttered and hid behind Lucy clinging tighter to her leg.

"Oh!" Lucy said crouching down and pulling him in front of her. "Don't worry they won't hurt you," she whispered into his ear. "Introduce yourself." With this she gave him a little push forward.

"H-h-h-hello," he stammered. "I-I-I-I'm…"

* * *

Who is this boy? Where'd he come from? Why is he clinging to Lucy? Well you'll have to read to find out! Mwahahahahaha!

I know *hangs head* this story probably sucks. But hey! It's my first Fanfiction! Don't go easy on me just because of that though! Be brutal! Tell me if I made any mistakes! Tell me if it sucks and how! Just let me now so I can get better! *hangs head again* Though I doubt I can make anything as amazing as the other Fanfictions I've found on this website.*sighs*


	2. The Little Boy

I wanna thank AnimeAngel808 for giving me a name for the little boy! I was totally lost. XD So seriously, thank you!

OMG! I can't believe some many people have already read my story! *squeals* Thank you all so much! And without further ado… I present my second chapter!

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Chapter 2: The Little Boy

The boy looks to be about 5 or 6 years old. He has neat short black hair, blue eyes, and slightly tanned skin. (I'll leave his wardrobe up to your imagination, just remember that he's _super_ cute) The boy looks extremely nervous as he looks at the mages surrounding him. "I-I-I-I'm…" He looked back at Lucy.

"Go ahead," she whispers. He gulps.

"M-m-my n-n-name i-is," he swallows again, "um…" He stops. After a while Natsu suddenly starts laughing. All eyes turn to him.

"Your name is 'Um'?" he manages to get out. "That's the funniest name I've ever heard!" He then continues to laugh even harder. *everyone in the guild sweatdrops*

"That's not it IDIOT!" Gray yells with a punch to Natsu's face. Natsu crashes into the table behind him causing it to break.

"What the hell was that for Gray?" Natsu cried sitting up.

"You said something stupid!" he shouted back.

"Gray, your clothes," Cana calls from her perch on top of a table. Gray looks down at himself to find, that once again, he managed to lose his clothes. *Gray's eyes bug out*

"When did this happen?!" he shouts then hurriedly pulls his clothes back on. Luckily he had taken them off while he was still standing near Lucy.

"Be quiet all of you!" Erza commanded the guild falling silent as she turned back towards the boy. Then in a much nicer tone she asked, "What's your name?"

The boy gulped looking back at Lucy, who nodded, before taking a deep breath and saying, "Z-Zen Chase. I come from a family of hunters." Immediately after making this statement he ran and clung to Lucy again.

Lucy giggled turning him around to face Erza while wrapping her arms around him, and he leaned back into her embrace as though trying to get as far away from them all as possible. "I ran into this guy on my mission," Lucy explained. "He's also a mage, and, like he said, he comes from a family of hunters." She frowned. "However, when I was looking for the thief"-apparently her mission was to catch a thief-"I found him after he had just murdered Zen here's family and he was about to kill him as well." She glared at the ground. "I took him down, but Zen was seriously injured so I took him back to the town with me so he could get treated by a doctor. It turns out that his family had been living in the mountains for generations and he had never seen anyone outside of his family before. So, thanks to that thief being the first person he met outside his family, he wouldn't trust the doctors or anyone in town. Thankfully he remembered that I saved him and as long as I was there he would let the doctors treat him, so I ended up staying there for an extra 2 ½ months." She stroked the boy's hair reassuringly as he recalled the events she spoke of. "After he was healed, I decided to bring him back to the guild with me since he only trusts me and he has no family. It was only just recently I was able to coax him into interacting with other people. Do you think he could join the guild Erza?" She looked up to see most of the guild was teary eyed. Erza bent down to look Zen in the eye.

"I don't think the Master would object," the Titania stated with one of her rare kind smiles. She turned to the man in question who was sitting on the bar with his smiley face staff. "What do you say, Master?" she asked. The man jumped up and walked over to the boy. Zen moved closer to Lucy. Makarov simply smiled.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail!" he said. "Mira! Come give our new member his stamp!" Mirajane smiled walking over to Zen.

"Where do you want your guild stamp?" she asked cheerfully. Zen's eyes widened and he looked at Lucy.

"It's okay," she said answering his unspoken question. "Look I have one to." She lifted her hand to show him the pink guild mark. "She won't hurt you." Zen took a deep breath and nodded.

"Where do you want yours?" Mirajane asked again, this time a little more softly as she knelt in front of him next to Erza. Zen thought for a moment before pointing to his back. Lucy's face paled and she stiffened, but she took a deep breath and regained her smile for fear of Zen's reaction if he were to see her expression.

Mira and Erza didn't seem to notice this as Zen turned around and said, "Right in the middle please." He lifted his shirt. When Mira saw the small boys back she gasped tears immediately coming to her eyes. Erza's face became hard as she stiffened. Everyone in the guild looked pale. Even Natsu remained silent. Zen's back had a long, deep, jagged, newly-healed scar running from just the left of his spine towards his right shoulder that was hidden by the rest of his shirt. Lucy stroked Zen's hair as he closed his eyes waiting to hear what they would say. When Lucy saw his eyes close she brought the index finger of her other hand up to her lips. Quietly urging her guildmates to remain silent. Understanding her silent message Mirajane quickly wiped her eyes and pressed the stamp to the spot Zen had requested leaving a purple guild mark as she pulled it away.

"There!" she exclaimed trying to hide the sadness and pity in her voice. The other guild members, quickly catching on to the situation, cheered.

"Okay everyone!" Makarov shouted at the guild. "Let's welcome our new member Zen Chase!" This got a heartfelt roar of approval from all the guild members. (You can guess which one of them actually _roared_)

"YEAH!" Natsu shouted. "I'm all fired up!" (Yeah, I couldn't resist. Sorry!) After Natsu's unsurprising announcement the guild began to celebrate the arrival of their new guildmate, a little boy named Zen Chase.

* * *

"Lucy," Makarov called the blond to over to where he was sitting on the bar near Mirajane with Natsu, Gray, and Erza when she entered the guild followed closely by Zen. It had been a week since Lucy returned with Zen by her side. (Turns out he was actually around Wendy's age.) The boy hardly left the blond girl's side. He was now staying at her apartment. Mirajane gave the boy a kind smile.

"Hey guys," Lucy called. "What's up?"

"We're here to discuss Zen," Master started. "Since he refuses to part with Lucy, I think he should join your guys' team."

"No!" Zen suddenly moved in front of Lucy and shouted drawing the attention of everyone in the guild. Most of the guild members were in shock. It was the first time they had seen the boy yell or get upset about anything.

"Why not?" Lucy asked squatting to look him in the eye.

"Because _he_ destroys everything,"-he points at Natsu (obviously)-"and _he_ can never keep his clothes on!"-he points at Gray (Duh!)-"I mean," he continued in a softer voice, "I wouldn't mind going with Ms. Erza,"-she blushes at this then he points at her-"however, _she's_ the only one who can get _those two_,"-again Natsu and Gray-"to stop fighting, and if something happens and we can't come back for a while. I'd feel bad because if those two got in a fight, they might destroy the entire guild. So I think I should just be with _you_." He finished pointing at Lucy. *everyone in the guild (except Natsu and Gray) sweatdrops*

"You've got a point there," Makarov says.

"I'm also afraid of getting used to it, like you said Lucy," the boy continued. "I'm afraid that if I hang around them too much I might start acting like them one day."

"I can understand why you would be worried about that." Lucy looks at the two boys, from Natsu, who as holding some fire chicken in his hands, to Gray, who _once again_ was clothed only in his underwear. *Lucy sweatdrops* "No, we _certainly _**DO NOT** want you to start acting like them." She paused while everyone thought about all the times when either Natsu destroyed something, Gray lost his clothes, or they both nearly destroyed the guild with their fights while Erza wasn't around. *Lucy dead pans* "One of each is _more_ than enough." Erza nodded while the guild muttered in agreement.

"So then… can I form a team with you?" Zen asked with wide eyes making him look _extremely_ cute.

"Zen," Makarov interjected before Lucy could speak, "I can understand your concerns,"*he sweatdrops while looking at Natsu and Gray who were still frozen in place* "but I can't let you and Lucy go off on your own." Zen slumped, depressed. Then he looked around the guild.

"Don't feel bad Zen," Wendy said coming up to the boy. Wendy and Zen had become somewhat like friends over the past week as Zen had slowly begun to open up to the guild. Zen looked at her and seemed to get an idea.

"Then will you join too, Wendy?" Zen asked carefully. The girl seemed surprised. He looked at Makarov. "Could we be a team if Wendy joined?" Makarov wasn't surprised he would suggest Wendy joining the team. She _was_ the only person he would talk to when Lucy wasn't around, (not including Mirajane or Erza) but Wendy just had that effect on people. It was amazing really.

"I suppose it would be alright then," he said after hesitating momentarily, "but only if she agrees."

"Will you Wendy?" Zen asked with hope-filled eyes.

"Sure!" she said. Zen hugged her. Now _that_ was shocking. "What do you say Lucy-san?" Wendy asked turning to the blond girl. "Do you want to form this team?" Lucy bit her lip. She looked from Natsu, Gray, and Erza, to Zen and Wendy who were looking at her with pleading eyes. They looked adorable. She opened her mouth to reply.

"Well…"

* * *

What will Lucy say? Is she leaving team Natsu? What's going to happen? You'll just have to read the next chapter to find out! XD

So how'd I do? Was it bad? Tell me! I can take it!


	3. A New Team

*squeals* I can't believe how many people decided to review, favorite, and follow my story! Just so you know, yes, I do love leaving cliff hangers. But that's just to keep people reading and keep your interest sparked. So don't hate me!

Anyway here you go! Time to find out Lucy's answer! But if you read the plot you would already know. -.-

* * *

Chapter 3: A New Team

"Well…" Lucy started, "Okay!"

"Yay!" Wendy and Zen hugged her.

"But _Lucy_," Natsu whined snapping out of his frozen state, "we're partners. You can't just switch!" Makarov sighed.

"Now Natsu-" Gray interrupted him.

"Don't complain! Lucy would still be on our team if you didn't always destroy everything!"

Erza hit him. "Don't interrupt Master!" Then she turned to Natsu, ignoring the fact that Gray flew a few feet away. "He's right though. Even if we can't do anything about Gray's stripping," she paused, "**We could still be a team if it wasn't for your constant destruction! DAMN YOU! This is all your fault!**" Now she was holding Natsu by the front of his vest while yelling in his face. Said boy was terrified. She threw him back down.

"O-oi!" Gray interjected, "E-Erza, c-calm down."

"Now, now, it's Lucy's decision," Makarov said. "You should respect that."

"I must apologize, Master," Erza bowed her head.

"I still don't like it," Natsu grumbled.

"It's Lucy's decision," Gray interjected, "_we_ don't _have_ to like it."

"But you _will_ respect it," Erza added with a glare, "got that?"

"_So_…what's our first mission going to be?" Wendy stated trying to change the subject. Lucy, who had been watching the conversation with interest, turned towards her.

"I don't know," she said. "Zen," -he looked at her- "since it's your first mission, why don't you pick?" She gestured toward the mission board. He nodded and pulled her along with him as he made his way towards the board. He grabbed one and came back showing it to Lucy.

"What about this one?" Zen asked. Lucy looked over the job before nodding and handing it to Wendy.

"I think this is fine. What about you Wendy?" Lucy asked.

Wendy looked at the job before nodding her consent and handing it back to Zen. Zen then handed the job to Makarov. "We'll do this one!" he said happily.

Makarov looked at the job, expecting it to be a simple one considering the ease with which the other two accepted it, and his eyes immediately bugged out.

"A-are you sure about this?" he asked. Zen, Wendy, and Lucy nodded.

"It doesn't sound that hard," Zen stated.

"We can handle it, Master. Don't worry!" Lucy added.

"Zen could probably do it alone actually," Wendy said. "I don't know why he needs us."

*Lucy sweatdrops* "That's true isn't it…"

"What's the mission?"

"Nothing big," Zen answered. "We just have to defeat an extremely strong demon that resides in a cave deep within the black mist forest." Wendy nodded.

"I heard he eats you if you get caught within the black mist," she added.

"Yeah I heard that to," Lucy continued, "but it really only happens to normal people because they're generally not strong enough to fight the demon off."

"The reward is 900,000 jewels," Zen finished. The guild stared at them in shock. "So we'd like this mission." Lucy noticed everyone's unease.

"Don't worry guys!" she tried to reassure them. "Zen's actually a whole lot stronger than both me, _and_ Wendy combined. The only reason I had to save him is because he was in shock from his family's murder." The entire guild looked shocked.

"Say," Erza started, "what's your magic?"

* * *

What _is_ Zen's magic? Tell me what you think! If you come up with something _really_ good I might change it to that! Tell me!

I would like to apologize for not updating sooner but unfortunately I couldn't think of a good mission so I'd like to thank **I love Mugiwara no Luffy** for giving me a mission for this story! Also I'm sorry it's so short but once I got the mission I wanted to post as soon as possible before you guys go crazy trying to figure out what Lucy would say. By the way I don't know if I told you but I LOVE LUFFY! That's why he's my ID picture!


	4. The First Mission

Oh. My. God… I am so sorry I took so long to update….I hope you can forgive me….a lot of stuff happened as those who _actually_ read my profile would know…I apologize for how short it is…I just wanted to post _something_ before I made you guys hate me _too_ much. Well here you go…Chapter 4!

* * *

Chapter 4: The First Mission

"Say," Erza started, "what's your magic?"

Zen, Lucy, and Wendy all looked at each other. Lucy and Wendy raised their eyebrows in unison, both silently asking an unspoken question. Zen turned back to Erza, giving her his most adorable smile.

"I'm not telling!" he said leaning forward with his hands behind his back. "It's a surprise!" Lucy and Wendy smiled at each other.

"In that case," Makarov started, "I will have to insist that team Natsu join you on this mission." Zen, Wendy, and Lucy all stared at him.

"Doesn't that sort of defeat the reason this team was formed in the first place?" Wendy asked.

"How about if we have Gajeel and Levy-chan come instead?" Lucy asked. Mira's ears perked up at the mention of the "should-be" couple.

"It would be fine," Makarov said, "but, I must ask why you selected those two."

"Oi! Don't volunteer me without asking first, bunny-girl!" Gajeel shouted.

"I chose Levy-chan because she's brilliant, keeps a cool head, and could quickly develop a safe battle plan even while under pressure," Lucy started ignoring Gajeel's outburst. Levy blushed at the complements. "Gajeel on the other hand may have a temper and be extremely stubborn," -Gajeel glowered at this comment- "but he's good at taking orders and executing them. He is also extremely strong. Together these two could easily lend us the aid necessary to complete the mission should we need it."

"Yes," Mira said, "those two would make the _perfect_ pair." Lucy, Erza, and Wendy couldn't keep small smiles from coming on their faces as they realized the true meaning behind Mira's comment.

"Yep," Wendy couldn't quite stop herself from saying. "They are definitely the '_perfect pair_'." Levy blushed and looked down at her hands, while Gajeel simply huffed and looked away with his arms crossed over his chest, but if you looked closely you could detect the smallest amount of red dusting his cheeks. Makarov had a knowing smirk on his face as he made his decision.

"Well…since they came so strongly recommended," Makarov started, "Gajeel! Levy! You two are to supervise Zen's first mission!"

"Yes, Master!" Levy said. Gajeel simply huffed. And so, the group began their preparations for the mission ahead.

* * *

Lucy, Wendy, Zen, Levy, Gajeel, and Pantherlily were exiting the train station of the town the black mist was supposed to surround. After getting the information they went into the forest.

"Remember, Gajeel, Levy, Lily, this is _our_ mission," Lucy said.

"Please don't interfere unless we ask for help," Wendy added. "We need to see how well we work on our own. We'll know when we need help and we'll ask for it, okay?"

"Even if it seems like we're in trouble, don't help us," Lucy finished.

"Alright," Levy sighed.

"If you're sure bunny-girl," Gajeel added uncertainty showing on his face.

"I'm sure," Lucy said with a smile. Gajeel and Levy nodded.

When they came across the cave, a huge battle ensued. Lucy and Wendy drew the demons' attention. Plural, there wasn't one demon, there were two!

"Zen, kill them!" Lucy shouted.

Zen attacked and effectively destroyed the demons. Lucy, Wendy, and Zen went back to Gajeel and Levy who were staring at Zen in shock.

"So _that's_ your power," Gajeel said with a smirk. Zen nodded with a smile. "You two weren't kidding, Zen is _much_ stronger than the both of you…"

"_Amazing_," Levy sighed. Zen blushed. The black mist suddenly began to clear up.

"The demons must have been the cause of the mist," Lucy commented.

"That would explain it," Levy agreed.

"Let's go collect our reward!" Zen cheered. Lucy laughed and they began their walk back to the town, demons in tow thanks to Gajeel, who did not sound all that happy about it.

When they reached the town multiple cheers reached their ears. Levy collected the award for them while Zen clung to Lucy's leg for dear life. They made a beeline for the train station, taking the first they could back to Magnolia.

Hahahahahahahaha! You thought I was gonna tell you what his power was didn't you? I'm not telling! Not yet! I want it to be a surprise! And yes, I have actually already decided his power…As payment for _not_ telling you his power….I decided _not_ to leave it on a cliffhanger this time! XD


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